Jess Partridge // Penny For Your Thoughts

So I know I’ve already banged on about this whole 50 issues thing, but I’m serious when I say it’s remarkable. After that first issue arrived – that had taken months of work – I saw a selection of covers from another magazine and, seriously, only at that point did it dawn on me that I would have to do it again, and again, and again. If I had realised it before I don’t think I would have made it through the first one. Call me an idiot, but I have a feeling it was survival instinct.

The last four-and-a-bit years have taught me so much I barely even know where to begin. Consistency is the main thing, when I first sent out our basic-as-fuck mailer to the 25 people who signed up to our mailing list, it felt stupid, but now people tell me all the time how useful it is, people I’ve never even met. It’s super weird (good weird). I’ve learned you don’t need to do what everyone else is doing, you don’t need to write about the same bands (but also it’s fine if you do), just try and support stuff you like. Sounds simple, right? But the longer you go, the harder it gets to keep focused on that. Which brings me onto my final point (for now): concentrate on what you’re doing, not what everyone else is doing. We’re all guilty of this to some degree, those pangs of jealousy when you see a smug social media update from someone else. Well this whole thing can be a bit like that too “why did they get that?” “why won’t this person reply to me?”. But you’re never going to know, you don’t see the 3am deadline, the bruises on shoulders from carrying heavy bags of magazines, the pain of something great falling through. You can only keep trying, working and caring, you can’t control anyone or anything else. Create something you’re proud of and support the things you love. Easy.